When it comes to drinking tea, we are all familiar with it—milk tea, green tea, black tea, we can name a long list. Drinking tea is a traditional health preservation method, but drinking plain tea all the time can be a bit monotonous. You can try adding these perfect partners to your tea to not only improve the flavor but also enhance its health benefits.
Perfect Partner One: Black Tea + Ginger for a Warmer Body
Black tea is warm in nature and can warm the middle burner to expel cold, making it especially suitable for people with a cold stomach, cold hands and feet, a weak constitution, or those prone to diarrhea. Ginger, pungent and warm in nature, is good at dispelling wind-cold and warming the stomach to supplement yang. Both have a warming effect, and when paired together, the effect is doubled. This combination can be used to expel cold and release the exterior.
Perfect Partner Two: Oolong Tea + Osmanthus for an Appetite Stimulant
Oolong tea is a semi-fermented tea, such as Tieguanyin or Dahongpao. It is rich in active substances like tannic acid, tea polyphenols, and plant alkaloids, all of which can aid digestion and remove greasiness. Paired with osmanthus, which has a fresh fragrance, stimulates the appetite, relieves a dry throat and mouth, and alleviates bad breath and toothache, it can really whet your appetite. Osmanthus is pungent and warm in nature, making it a good match for the neutral nature of oolong tea.
Perfect Partner Three: Pu'er Tea + Dried Tangerine Peel for Better Digestion
Pu'er tea has a mild nature and is relatively gentle on the stomach and spleen. It can also alleviate the burden on the digestive system caused by greasy foods. Dried tangerine peel, which is simply the peel of a tangerine air-dried, also has the effects of strengthening the spleen to resolve phlegm, cutting through greasiness while leaving a fragrance, and lowering rebellious qi to stop vomiting.
Perfect Partner Four: Green Tea + Lemon for Heart Health
Adding some vitamin C-rich citrus fruits to green tea can increase the body's absorption efficiency of catechins, potentially boosting their health benefits by up to four times. Green tea with lemon has a fresh, sour, and cool taste, making it especially suitable for drinking in the summer. After brewing the green tea and letting it cool to a drinkable temperature, add one or two slices of lemon or a few drops of lemon juice. This helps avoid the loss of vitamin C caused by high temperatures.
Perfect Partner Five: Jasmine Tea + Chrysanthemum for Better Eyesight
Jasmine tea is pungent, sweet, and warm in nature. It not only has the effects of aromatically transforming dampness and awakening the spleen and harmonizing the stomach, but can also clear the liver and brighten the eyes. Chrysanthemum, with its fresh fragrance, also acts on the liver meridian and has the effects of calming the liver, clearing the liver, and brightening the eyes. The two paired together are a true "power couple."
Perfect Partner Six: Dried Tangerine Peel + Honey to Nourish the Stomach
Wash the dried tangerine peel, pour in an appropriate amount of boiling water, and discard it after 1 minute. Add boiling water again, let it steep for 30 minutes. When the water is warm, add an appropriate amount of honey, stir well, and it is ready to drink.
Dried tangerine peel and honey tea has the effects of nourishing yin and soothing the liver, nourishing the stomach, strengthening the spleen, moistening the lungs, and clearing liver fire. It is an excellent health tea drink for the spring. Regular consumption of this tea can also help with the healing of ulcers, making it particularly suitable for long-term consumption by patients with chronic gastric ulcers.